plastic free future essay
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While plastic has many uses, common man has become over reliant on single-use or disposable plastic. Nearly one third of the plastic packaging used escapes collection systems, which means that it ends up clogging the drains and polluting environment.
The plastic that ends up in the oceans can circle the earth four times in a single year, and it can persist for up to 1,000 years before it fully disintegrates. Keeping this in view many government bodies and NGOs have come out with a different measures to tackle the menace.
Putting it to good use
Maharashtra Government recently banned products made from plastic and have asked consumers to pay more for everything: From packaged milk to beverages. Mumbai Metro has installed plastic crushers at six out of 12 stations. The crushed plastic bottles will be sent for recycling to fibre manufacturing companies and will be used as raw material for clothing, carpets and grocery bags.
Taking it a step ahead, at many places roads are being constructed from reusable plastic. Explaining this concept, scientist Rajagopalan Vasudevan says, “Using plastic for constructing roads is a cost effective method. It makes the roads durable and prevents recurring potholes. While a 1.5 km road has been constructed at Prabhadevi in Dadar, over 20,000 km of plastic roads have been laid at Tamil Nadu using this technology.”
The project is now being carried out at major roads in Maharashtra. This method is expected to help the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to prevent road damages due to heavy moving vehicles, as these ‘plastic’ roads can manage a load of 2,500 kilograms and also resolve the potholes issue.
Improving waste management
A team of architects, Jai and Ketaki Bhadgaonkar, and local civic activist Mohit Ramle, have come up with a plan to improve the collection and management of plastic waste in Versova and to also benefit the Koli community economically. The first step in the process involves waste collection, after segregation it will be sent to Dharavi for recycling and reuse. Further steps will address livelihoods, such as the building of plastic boats and floating islands using waste, closed system aquaculture and a fish processing industry.
Shedding light on this, Ramle says, “The core idea of the project is to look at plastic as a resource and to develop and create a unique economy around the plastic waste which tends to flow through the creek into the oceans eventually degrading and creating an imbalance in the marine ecology. The objective is to derive a solution for a global issue of ‘plastic in the oceans’.”
Making best from waste
Rashmi Tiwari, architect has transformed thousands of discarded plastic water bottles collected from city restaurants into durable construction material and is planning to build toilets in rural areas. She has opted for responsible and sustainable construction using plastic bottles filled with mud. On an average 1500 – 2000 bottles are consumed per second in the city. Out of which only one out of five bottles are being recycled and the rest land into landfills or are dumped in oceans endangering animals, human beings on this planet.
“This initiative is like two sides of a coin reducing plastic pollution and construction of more toilets economically. Around 1200, 1 litre pet bottles were collected and filled with mud and used as substitutes for conventional bricks,” says Tiwari.
The objective behind the proposed toilet was to utilise unused plastic bottles and mud, which were available in and around the city in plenty, she said claiming that it would help maintain the cleanliness in the city.